News

Super Tuesday in US Studies Centre's sights

The US presidential primary calendar comes to a head this Wednesday 7 March, when 10 states vote on which Republican should challenge Barack Obama for the American presidency.

The US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney is hosting live media coverage of the event, known as "Super Tuesday," at the University's Manning Bar throughout the day.

The Centre's Super Tuesday event starts at 10.30am with US television coverage of the results, and continues over lunch with an expert panel comprising US Studies Centre CEO Professor Geoffrey Garrett, Chair in US Media and national correspondent of The Atlantic Monthly Professor James Fallows, and Research Associate and Editor of The Spectator Australia Tom Switzer.

The panel will be moderated by ABC Broadcaster and US Studies Centre Research Associate John Barron. It starts at 12.30pm and will include Q&A.

In the evening, the festivities continue with a trivia contest focused on US elections past and present.

Starting at 5.30pm, teams of up to eight will compete over three rounds of questions for various prizes. Centre Board Director and newly appointed Foreign Minister Bob Carr is scheduled to attend and give an address.

The Super Tuesday elections are the biggest day in the months-long series of primary contests the US political parties use to select their nominees for president.

Beginning in Iowa on January 3, 2012, seven major candidates vied for the Republican nomination this year. The winner of the nomination will be announced at the party's national convention in August.

With votes in 11 states already completed, the field has narrowed to four remaining contenders: former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, former senator for Pennsylvania Rick Santorum, Texas congressman Ron Paul, and former house speaker Newt Gingrich.

Ten more states will vote on Super Tuesday, from which 437 delegates will be awarded. These states are Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

A candidate needs 1144 delegates to win the nomination. Romney is the current frontrunner, having already won 98 delegates to the second placed Santorum's 44. Gingrich has 32 and Paul 20.

The winner of the Republican nomination will compete against current US president Barack Obama in the general election, which will be held on 6 November.